Do your students understand how the pixel grid in Scratch works?

You started Scratch with your students and you get them to move a Sprite by 10.  However, do your students really know what 10 means?  That was my first problem with teaching Scratch to students.  Students could move Sprites around by numbers, but I didn't have a lesson which focused on the meaning behind the numbers.  Now I do and let me share it with you.

For students, one of the hardest things to understand in Scratch is the pixel grid.  Once students understand the parameters of their coding window they can make better coding decisions the rest of the way.  One of the first Scratch lessons I do with my 5th graders involves copying my code and playing around with this simple activity.  To complete the activity students should first find the newly added grid in the backgrounds and begin coding the ball which can be found in the Sprites gallery.

Here is a copy of my code:

Here is a image of the Scratch window for this activity:

To see a published version of this lesson click on the link below:

https://scratch.mit.edu/projects/165195527/

After this lesson students will have a great reference tool in their "My Stuff" folder in case they need a visual perspective of the grid.  Best wishes in teaching code.  Please share any ideas or modifications you think would help improve this lesson.